Hello Shining Skull

[Guest guest]

You know I always think its cruel when people

insist that you can't learn this or that from a book -

you MUST have a teacher. Easy for them to say, maybe

not everybody has this option. Sometimes it even

seems like people are saying you can't learn anything

from a book, even it you have a teacher. What if a

teacher writes a book? Books of course can be extremely

valuable. Glad to hear you are enlarging your yoga library.

I was fortunate enough to have a teacher. I had

collected yoga books for decades and dabbled around a bit

but I would have never had the inspiration or any

idea what to do without a teacher. But that does not

mean that other people can't figure things out on

their own. And if someone has ever had any instruction

in any kind of yoga asana practice, then they are

way ahead, they maybe just have to adjust some

concepts.<br><br>I hope you will get to attend some workshops. You

are lucky if you have the chance to work with Lino or

John Scott.<br><br>But here is why I am writing you

today. I have wondered about this in the past. I don't

think I have seen you mention whether you have any

Ashtanga yoga videos. (This could be a dangerous

discussion here, for videos are just as "bad" as books). It

really is true that for most people to really get it,

they need to study with a teacher. But in the absence

of that, we should do the best we can. And books are

great. But in my opinion, if someone was trying to learn

Ashtanga yoga without a teacher, videos are worlds beyond

books. In some ways they can be just like being in a

class with a teacher. Of course in some ways not. Like

you don't have the teacher there to check you out and

make sure you are doing things right. But in many ways

a video is the next best thing to having live

instruction. You know where to find my video page and the one

at Ashtanga.com. I would suggest that it could be

very useful to you (and anyone else learning without a

teacher) to get a video or two. Since we're talking about

Richard Freeman, his video is one of the best. He does

sometimes say things like "lift the wings of your kidneys",

which I don't quite get, but he is a great teacher and

he made this video to help people learn Ashtanga

yoga. Now I'm sure he would say (and it is probably

part of the standard disclaimer with most videos) that

the video is not meant to be a substitute for

studying with a teacher. But hey, its better than nothing.

My favorite video is Sarah Powers on Maui. I meant

to reply to a post a few weeks ago on how to keep

motivated when practicing at home, and to suggest that

videos would be helpful. Even if you are studying (or

have studied) with a teacher, you can learn a lot from

some of the videos available and they can also be used

to help with motivation when practicing alone. Quite

a few of the available videos feature Pattabhi

Jois.<br><br>Another idea for anyone who does not have access to a

teacher is that you may be able to find someone around

who might practice with you. This can make a world of

difference.<br><br>(If you do order a video, you may need to be sure it

is PAL format, for European VCRs)<br><br>And of

course, any yoga practice is helpful and there is no

rush. (All is coming)

[Guest guest]

Regarding learning from books and videos, I would

add that you can learn much more from a book written

by a good teacher than from a class taught by a bad

one. <br><br>For example, I have attended classes

taught by the infamous Sri Schultz at It's Yoga, and I

can honestly say that I have learned much more from

John Scott's book and David Swenson's video than from

those classes.<br><br>(I did not personally witness the

Kriya described by Senor, but I don't find it hard to

believe).

[Guest guest]

I too was schooled by Larryogi, and have to say I

learned much more from Freeman's video than I ever

learned at It'syoga.<br><br>On the other hand, I think

that just Learning the technical aspects of astanga

vinyasa is one thing. And very essential though that is,

a place of Practice With Others was for me just as

essential. Larryji, for all his pecadillos (sp) provided

that, and made it possible for me to practice day by

day. Just trying to practice with the Freeman video

wasn't enough. <br><br>The point here I'm trying to make

is that a useful teacher doesn't have to be a tech

wiz at astanga. He/she can be a ptsmoking, gurumayi

worshipping doof, but as long as no one is getting injured,

and all are brought together to practice together,

people can make some progress.

[Guest guest]

That is true. And I do miss classes for that reason; there's no substitute for

a room filled with the collective ujayi breath of a few dozen people.